Britain’s Health and Safety Executive, Offshore Division, has issued the following alert regarding Failures of manually operated side-door elevators due to unplanned opening of latch mechanism of side-door elevators lifting large diameter well casing from the horizontal position.
Says HSE: “There have been several serious dropped object incidents in offshore Northern Europe, including a near fatality, involving the use of manually operated side-door elevators to lift large diameter well casing. The incidents involved the unplanned opening of the elevators, during tailing-out or lifting of pipe from a horizontal position, allowing the load to fall. Investigation of the incidents has raised concerns about the safety of the latching mechanism.”
